Improvement in combined under waist and skirt supporters



a. FROST & G. H. PHE LP'S. Combined Under Waist-and Skir t,Supporter.

Patented April-6,1875

THE GRAPHIC CO.PHDTO.-L ITH.39&4'I PARK PlACLN-Y- GEORGE FROST AND GEORGE HENRY PHELPS, OF BOSTON, MASS.

IMPROVEMENT IN COMBlNED UNDER WAIST AND SKIRT SUPPORTERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. R6! ,85 i dated April 6, 1875; application filed March 30, 187 5.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, GEORGE FROST and GEORGE HENRY PHELPS, both of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improved Article for Ladies Wear, of which the following is a specification:

The object of our invention is to provide an improved article for ladies wear, known as combined under waist and skirt supporters, which shall answer all the purposes of the ordinary corset, constructed with sleels and bonesthat is to say, of giving to the wearer a symmetrical form and stay for the body, and at the same time of entirely doing away with the uncomfortable rigidity and unhealthy restraint of the ordinary corset; and which also supports the skirts of the wearer at a fixed point or points, bringing the weight and strain thereof directly upon the shoulders, thereby relieving the wearer from the downward pressure upon the abdomen, as well as the pressure around the abdomen, caused by the tight belting of the ordinary skirt-bands, thus involving a health-saving principle, which, in connection with the fact of the construction of the under waist, almost entirely without the use of steels or bones, makes the article conducive to comfort, beauty, and health. The invention consists in the peculiar construction of the under waist and also in combining with said waist means for supporting the skirts, and of readily adjusting them at any desired point or points, all as hereinafter specifically set forth.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, and in which like letters indicate the same parts in all the views, Figure 1 represents a front elevation of our combined under waist and skirt supporter. Fig. 2 represents a rear elevation of the same. Figs. 3 and 4- show, respectively, detached views of the seamless yoke, and one of the bosom-pieces. Fig. 5 illustrates the adjustable attachment we prefer to use for securing the skirt-supporter to the waist.

Referring to the drawings, A A designate the backs with extension-pieces forming the seamless yoke of two parts, by means of which the support from the shoulders is obtained. These parts extend from the front of the waist, at B, to the arms at the points marked 0,

thence over the shoulders, forming the armsizes, to the scams 0 0 under the arms; thence to the back-opening P, tothe bottom of the Waist, constituting the back thereof. The back-openin g is fastened by the lacings m, for convenience in adjustin the waist to the form of the wearer. Extending along each row of eyelet-holes, on both sides thereof, are suitable bones, indicated by the dotted lines l 1-, which are inserted for the purpose of distributing the strain of the lacing equally-upon the waist. The front of the underwaist consists of the bosom-form of two parts, D D, one for each side, and the body or lower front of the same of four parts, E E and E E. Each side of the bosom-form is cut as shown in Fig. 4, and gathered and tucked in such a manner as to give rotund fullness of form, and these parts are attached to the yoke, as seen in Fig. 1, at D D, fornling that part of the waist between the yoke and the body or lower front E E. The back of the bosomform (not shown in the drawing) is composed of two pieces of cloth, gathered and tucked and fastened together at the center by a button, for convenience of filling with hair or other suitable material for stuffin g. The two parts of the lower front E E of the waist are made with the peculiar gore-shape cuts 9 and g, the latter corresponding with the curvature O K, in the back of the yoke, Fig. 3. To keep the seam g, Fig.1, from gathering and fulling, and to keep it smooth and in place, two small bones are inserted, one on each side thereof, as indicated by the dotted lines in said view. These bones and those in the back of the waist, at Z Z, Fig. 2, are the only ones that we employ in the construction of our waist. The front of the waist may be fastened with buttons (a a, as shown in Fig. 1. The support of the skirts at a fixed point or points we obtain by means of the straps F F, the number of which is to be at the option of the wearer, which are permanently secured to the waist at the points indicated in Fig. 1, and to which arebuckled an adjustable attachment, consistin g of a hooked buckle, G, and a ring, H, shown in an enlarged View in Fig. 5. The ring is seen as being caught on the hook of the buckle, and fastened permanently to the skirt-band I. By this arrangement the support or adjustment of the skirts. at any desired point or points is readily and easily accomplished; and, as is perfectly obvious, the weight of the skirts is upon the shoulders and not upon the hips, and consequently the pressure about and around the waist of the wearer. is entirely obviated.

Having thus described the several parts of our waist, we will now set forth the advantages our waist has over other contrivances of a corset nature, known as skirt-supporters. These advantages, in a sanitary point of View, are involved in the principle of almost the entire support of clothing from the shoulders, which is accomplished not merely by means of a narrow adjustable strap running simply over the shoulder, as heretofore, but by a yoke or yokes connected by buttons and lacings, as heretofore described, running not onlyover but from shoulder .to shoulder, thus helping one support the other. The support being thus secured, the strain of skirts and other garments is brought to bear upon a fixed point or points in the waist, just above the hips, by means of straps, &c., as heretofore described, which fact of fixed support will enable the wearer to wear her skirt-belts loosely-a thing impossible when support of skirts is intended from a flange-shaped bustle or pads fastened to the lower part of the corset-when tight girting of skirt-bands is inevitable to keep it from slipping over or off the flange or pads. Further-' more, as the shape and support of form are given by the peculiar cut of front, sides, and yoke, and without the use of the usual numerous corset bones or steels, which bones and steels tend to crowd the breasts of wearer npward-a state uncomfortable, if not unhealthy, but producing a fullness of bust, which makes many willing to sacrifice comfort for beauty and as the bosom-forms are so constructed as to be made full or small at convenience or option of vearer, by putting in more or less filling, and also are permanent fixtures of the waist, the waist will give to the wearer all the shapely effects of the ordinary corset aboutthe bust, with none of the uncomfortable or injurious effects, and, byaccomplishiug these ends, we consider our invention both useful and beneficial to woma-nkind.

We do not wish it understood in saying that the lacing in the back for convenience in adjusting to size and form will enable the same size of our waists to be worn by different women having a waist-measure of eighteen or thirty inches, but that our waists are made in graded sizes, and that the lacing is simply for adjusting to any little peculiarities which may exist and differ in different women havin g the same waist-measure.

We do not broadly claim in this application the bosom-form D, constructed as described, as that is the subject of a separate application of ours now pending in the Patent Office.

We claim as our invention-- 1. In an under waist for ladies wear, the seamless yoke A, constructed substantially as herein described and shown. 2. In an under waist for ladies wear, the combination of the yoke A, and the body or lower front parts E E, constructed and combined substantially in the manner herein specified.

3. In an under waistfor ladies wear, the combination of the yoke A, bosom-forn1 D,

and the body or lower front parts E E, the

whole combined and arranged substantially 1 as herein specified.

4. In an under waist for ladies wear, the

combination of the yoke A, bosom-form D, body or lower front parts E E, bones l l, and lacings m, substantially as herein shown and described.

5. In an under waist for ladies wear, the combination of the yoke A, bosom-form 1), body or lower front parts E E, bones Z Z, lacings m, and front fastenings aa, substantially as herein specified.

6. In an under waist for ladies wear, the combination of the yoke A, bosom-form 1), body or lower front parts E E, bones ll, lacings m, front fastenings a a, and short bones at the goreshape cut g, substantially as herein specified.

GEORGE FROST. GEORGE HENRY PHELPS.

Witnesses:

GEORGE H. GRooE, GEORGE H. VVHITTEMORE. 

